


I’ve Tried Trusting. Doesn’t Exactly Work Out.

by mOther3



Category: Inanimate Insanity (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Meeple lore, Object gore sorta, Post ii14, a few torture scenes but they’re objects so, cobs being cobs, implied genocide?, this fic is really hard to tag sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27733732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mOther3/pseuds/mOther3
Summary: Worrying was something Mephone4 was very good at.Lately, he was victim to a creeping suspicion that he’d managed to royally mess all this up. Mepad hadn’t returned. That was out of character for him. Toilet (a traitorous agent of Cobs!) was long gone—he was okay with this until he realized the object may very well be returning to Meeple HQ. And those aliens that had brought everything to a boiling point... The strange egg shaped ship in the sky that made his hardware ache just to look at.——With his cohosts gone and a mysterious alien ship in the sky, Mephone is forced to stop running from his past and learn to trust again.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	1. X

“Aliens!” The words are barely out of Toilet’s mouth before a monolithic being glides from the cockpit of the crashed vessel. 

It was, unmistakably, a phone. 

It stands perfectly still for a moment. Toilet can see his reflection in the device’s dark screen. 

“... Mister phone...?” He starts quietly, unsure of why the thing wasn’t speaking —or doing much of anything, for that matter. A twinge of uncertainty crosses his mind... But, no matter their strange (sometimes unpredictable and downright frustrating) behavior, Meeple products were his friends.

And surely... This was a friend of Mephone’s. 

“AUTHORIZED.” It shouts down at him in a distorted voice. “VOICE SAMPLE MATCH SUCCESSFUL.” Its screen blazes with red light that glistens off the sand below. 

“TOILET.” It booms.

“Y-yes?” Undeniable doubt clouds his optimistic hopes that this was a friend. 

“COME WITH ME.”

“I-I’m not sure if I-“

The phone’s arms shoot out, grabbing him before he can get the rest of the sentence out. 

It reels the flailing object in effortlessly. Toilet thrashes. Mephones were never this aggressive! 

“If this is about the stolen wires, I’m really sorry-! I promise I won’t take anything from The Cloud again-!” He blurts out as the phone holds him at arm’s length, face to face. His captor says nothing. Toilet blabbers on, a nervous habit, “If it’s not those, I swear, I haven’t done anything wr-!”

“WHERE IS FOUR.” The phone cuts him off with its grating voice, screen lighting up to display a ‘Find My Mephone’ application. To his horror, Toilet saw himself somehow listed on the screen. Mepad wasn’t included anywhere on the list of devices to be found, and Mephone... 

‘Location Unavailable.’

“M-mister phone?” Toilet responds timidly. Something wasn’t adding up. “I-I... He...”

“SPEAK.” 

It constricts him further. Toilet coughs, spilling water from his bowl onto the deck of the ship. This was too real to be a staged fight like Cobs had mentioned in The Cloud. 

“I-I don’t know!” He lied. Even if Mephone had sent him away. Even if he’d falsely accused him of treason... He still loved his cohost dearly. Whoever this phone was, he didn’t want Mephone to have to suffer at its hands. 

The phone stares at him in terse silence, then throws him through the ship’s open door. Toilet crashes into a control panel, chipping his well polished porcelain on the impact. Rattled, he stays down as his world spins, fading into darkness as the phone enters and closes the hatch behind it.


	2. Sour Cream and Chives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“This is really where you’ve been hiding? In this dingy hole?”_
> 
> —
> 
> Lost in his thoughts, Mephone is cornered by an unwelcome guest.

Not hosting was, to put it lightly, a massive relief. 

The objects had all occupied themselves with pointless relationships and drama. It made for a great show, no doubt, but they were one less thing he had to worry about now. 

Worrying was something Mephone4 was _very_ good at. 

Lately, he was victim to a creeping suspicion that he’d managed to royally mess all this up. Mepad hadn’t returned. That was out of character for him. Toilet (a traitorous agent of Cobs!) was long gone—he was okay with this until he realized the object may very well be returning to Meeple HQ. And those aliens that had brought everything to a boiling point... The strange egg shaped ship in the sky that made his hardware ache just to look at. 

Mephone shook himself, returning from his thoughts back to the dimly lit cave he once again called home. 

He’d tried just forgetting it all again. 

A pile of botched memory offloads in his lap was unfortunate evidence that he wouldn’t be able to run so easily from this part of his life. 

He lifts one, watching a memory he already knew play out in the distorted crystal. It was Mepad waking for the first time. How he missed that day. 

Mepad smiles in the memory. 

“Family-“ His voice echoes. It was his first word. “If that is what you want to be, then we are family.” 

The words sting. Mepad, his only family, disappeared, fed up with his cohost. Mephone didn’t blame him. If he could, he’d leave himself too. He’d tried, but something was stopping his memories from complete deletion. They merely copied themselves into gems that only showed him more of what he was trying not to see. 

A drop of water from the cave ceiling hits the memory, restarting its playback. Mephone sighs, pushing the gems away from him. 

With starting over off the table, he didn’t know what to do with himself. Sitting in a cave feeling sorry wasn’t his first choice—starting a gameshow was. It’d served as a nice distraction, but was unfortunately no longer a viable option. 

Another drop of water plops onto his screen. He wipes it off and stands. 

The gems lining the cave walls glisten and pulse momentarily. They’d been doing so ever since the ship outside arrived, but they hadn’t glowed pink like they were now. 

A shadow casts along the corridor, cutting through the pink light, followed by footsteps. 

Mephone returns to his memories, trying to bury them before he was found—he wasn’t keen on his past being public knowledge. A voice interrupts: 

“This is really where you’ve been hiding? In this dingy hole?”

Unfortunately, he knew the voice well. 

It belonged to a former contestant, and a disgruntled one at that: Taco. Mephone stands, kicking aside a memory of his creator berating him for eating so often, and addresses her, “I’m not hosting anymore. I don’t-“ 

He stops. Behind her, was Mepad’s unconscious body.... Mepad hadn’t left him after all. Taco looks to him. “Oh. That? It was just my ride here-“

“What do you want...” Mephone starts coldly. 

“I just want you to come here and talk.” He only scoffs at the response, otherwise remaining silent. 

Taco rolls her eyes, “Right. In that case.” She reaches into her shell, pulling a gun. “You are going to walk to me slowly. Move away, and I shoot him.” Taco waves the weapon at Mepad. Mephone stares, petrified. 

“Come on then!” It was abundantly clear Mephone would not be bothered by (or would possibly welcome) a gun pointed at him. His weakness was apparent to her ever since she’d stumbled across him and his cohost in the cave and spied on the pair. He’d sacrificed himself for Mepad in the past—that was his Achilles heel in the swirling nihilism that kept Mephone immune from her usual tactics. 

Mephone glowers, inching closer to her, “You know, you always were my least favorite c-“

“Oh, save it-!” Taco snips back. “I don’t care about how much you dislike me— _move_!” She steps back, readying Mepad to teleport. 

“Don’t touch him-!” He growls. Taco presses the barrel of the gun over where Mepad’s processor would be, shutting Mephone up. Jackpot. He was in the palm of her hand. Mepad stirs and she has to force herself not to crack a smile at how perfectly this was happening. 

Mepad’s screen blinks on, displaying the Meeple logo as he played a pitiful startup chime. Mephone was nearly in range. Taco’s hand hovers over the trigger she’d installed to force a teleport as soon as he was close enough. 

“Wh...” Mepad groans through a thick layer of static, taking in the sight of a gun pointed at him by the object who’d abducted him, and Mephone. “S-sir- Get.. Get away-“ He warns, conscious enough to realize his cohost was in danger. Mephone takes a step back, just out of range. 

Taco swears under her breath and turns, “Quiet, you-“ She steps a foot onto Mepad’s screen and he squirms. 

“Don’t.” Mephone growls, staying put. 

Taco taunts him, pressing harder into Mepad. “You’ll have to come here and stop me, then.”

“Mephone, just go-“ Mepad urges. 

“That’s enough!” Taco drives her foot against him hoping to quiet his attempts to drive Mephone back and the thin glass of his touch screen gives way. A sickening crack followed by a distorted cry of pain brings Mephone scrambling to Mepad’s side. 

“Sour cream and chives-!” She curses as she activates her captive’s teleportation. 

Taco was in for it now... 

She’d been ordered to capture the tablet undamaged. 

Her client was _not_ going to be happy.


	3. Played

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “SIR. YOUR CONTACT HAS ARRIVED.”
> 
> Finally.

Pink clouds swirl against the window, blocking the sunlight to reveal Cobs’ reflection in the glass. Rain follows, quietly breaking the silence of the office. 

A light illuminates a small panel on his desk, followed by the voice of a phone.

“SIR. YOUR CONTACT HAS ARRIVED.”

Finally. 

Cobs turns to his desk and pushes a button before speaking, “Bring her in.”

His contractor was frustrating to work with at the very least. She was too slippery for her own good, and it made her infuriating to work with. ‘I’ll have your prize in due time,’ she’d always assure him. 

Due time was on her schedule, not his. 

Despite all that, she was his last resort to get what he needed done, a task every model of his creations had managed to fail.

A Mephone X pokes its screen into the office. At a wave of Cobs’ hand, it opens the doors, escorting a little object into the space. 

“Taco.” He greets curtly.

“You seem surprised that I’m here, Steven, “ Taco starts with a gentle voice in an attempt to put him at ease, “What’s-“

He leans forward over his desk. She smirks. “Spare me the pleasantries. Did you complete the job?”

Behind her, another X drags Mephone 4, struggling at every footstep. 

“He’s here. As you asked.”

He addresses Mephone first: “Blue, it’s been too long.” 

Mephone stares at him in horror for a moment before resuming his frantic struggling. Typical. Cobs turns back to Taco, “And I presume you brought the other?” She flushes, staying silent as a third X drags Mepad through the door.

He was badly cracked, screen flickering every now and then.

“I did what I had to.” She states coolly. 

“What you HAD to do,” Cobs speaks slowly, frustrated, “Was bring him to me unharmed. I made that clear, yes?”

Taco mutters a quiet acknowledgment. Mepad sparks, breaking the tense silence. 

“How did this happen?”

“Mephone was wary. I had to get him close enough. Mepad is the only thing he cares about.” She folds her arms. Cobs turns to Mephone, brows raised. This was news to him. 

“Explain.”

Mephone simply throws an elbow at his captor, managing to break free for a moment before being thrown to the ground with a grunt that made Mepad shift nervously. Silence falls again, leaving only the rain pattering against the windows. 

“Mepad is his cohost.” Taco explains after a pause, “Something happened between them. I don’t know what, but they’re close because of it.”

“Well, Blue! I’m surprised. You never did trust easily.”

“I wonder why-” Mephone finally replies as he fights futilely against the newer model holding him down.

“At the very least you picked up a quick wit.” Mephone was clearly not going to be of any use at the moment. Cobs turns back to Taco, chiding her, “You did not complete the job as I requested.”

The phone who’d escorted her in steps closer. Taco visibly stiffens, “I did better than any of your Mephones could.” 

“You didn’t do as I asked. Now, would you please take care of her, X?” Cobs says simply. The phone snaps to attention. Taco tries to pull her gun, only to be stopped by immensely strong arms around her little wrists. Curse her small size—any resistance only proved painful as the phone dragged her out of Cobs’ office. 

“How could you work for him!” Mephone calls out. It sounded like he was being brought along too, “I thought you were smarter than the rest-!”

“I...” Taco stammers, processing what was happening, “I got played.”


End file.
